Signatures of the Giant Pairing Vibration in the 14C and 15C atomic nuclei.

Cappuzzello, F; Carbone, D; Cavallaro, M; Bondì, M; Agodi, C; Azaiez, F; Bonaccorso, A; Cunsolo, A et al. · Nat Commun · 2015

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Giant resonances are collective excitation modes for many-body systems of fermions governed by a mean field, such as the atomic nuclei. The microscopic origin of such modes is the coherence among elementary particle-hole excitations, where a particle is promoted from an occupied state below the Fermi level (hole) to an empty one above the Fermi level (particle). The same coherence is also predicted for the particle-particle and the hole-hole excitations, because of the basic quantum symmetry between particles and holes. In nuclear physics, the giant modes have been widely reported for the particle-hole sector but, despite several attempts, there is no precedent in the particle-particle and hole-hole ones, thus making questionable the aforementioned symmetry assumption. Here we provide experimental indications of the Giant Pairing Vibration, which is the leading particle-particle giant mode. An immediate implication of it is the validation of the particle-hole symmetry.